How Do We Taste Food? 👅

Morning Taste Buds!

Durd!

What did I tell you? No more ice cream!

I don't care, you’ve had like 10 of them already.

Jeez…

Say, how do we taste food, anyway?

Well, as many ice cream lovers know, the tongue is crucial for tasting stuff.

See, your tongue is actually a muscle, just like all your other muscles.

Just moist and inside your mouth.

But the tongue muscle is special because somehow it can detect stuff.

Stuff like: Oiliness, chewiness, textures, temperatures, and, of course, flavors.

And there are actually 5 different flavors your tongue can taste:

• Sweet
• Salty
• Sour
• Bitter
• Umami (sort of a savory flavor)

These 5 flavors mixed up in different amounts and combos make up every possible taste we can taste.

But how does the tongue actually taste stuff?

Let's take a look at Durd’s tongue.

See all those little bumps?

Those are called papillae.

These bumps are packed with tons of little things called… Taste buds!

These taste buds are found in the grooves and on the walls of the bumps that cover your tongue.

They are super tiny, and each one looks like a bit like this:

Weird…

See those little small hairs, though?

These little things are called taste hairs.

So, when you eat some food, little food particles brush past these hairs.

And they detect what flavors are present in the food you just ate.

They then turn the taste of that food into a signal and shoot it up to the brain.

Telling you exactly what you're tasting!

Now, some taste buds can only sense one flavor.

Others can sense all 5 of them.

Meaning you can only get the full flavor of your food once your brain has gotten a ton of signals from lots and lots of taste buds all over your tongue.

Stay Cute,
Reece, Henry & Dylan 🌈

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